NUNEATON full-back Rob Cook took the plaudits for another maturing performance in last week's win over Halifax which he capped by scoring his side's final two tries.

The 23-year-old all-rounder, who captained Lincolnshire at cricket in the Minor Counties League this summer, is in his second season at Liberty Way and - a former student at Worcester University, where he was capped by England Universities - has developed into an accomplished player at either full-back and fly-half.

"Rob worked really hard over the summer, as he did last year, and he's pretty special," said Nuns coach Mike Umaga.

"He's really big for us at the moment in everything that he is doing, and every time he has got the ball he's a threat.

"It was a really classy effort to score his first try against Halifax, and even the second one was on the end of nothing.

"Rob's a full-back who can play fly-half as well which adds to his importance to us. He's a better player at 10 than last season, he has more of an understanding of the position now and reads the game very well. Playing at fly-half also means he gets the ball in his hands sooner rather than later, and he had a big part in creating our tries when he played there at Fylde two weeks ago."

Cook, who is employed by Lincoln-shire County Cricket Board as a coach, wears the 15 shirt again today at Harrogate. Mark White comes into the back row for injured Nick Smith as the only change to the starting line-up and is replaced by Nathan Roy-Smith on the bench, where Alex Taylor returns at the expense of Lucas Roy-Smith.